Fortune reports that every analyst it has conferred with sees Apple likely reporting record revenues in Q2 2013, but also sees them experiencing their first fall in earnings for the first time in a decade.
Apple’s revenues are expected to grow from $41 billion to $43 billion, another record for Q2, but margins are expected to have fallen substantially from a peak of just over 47 percent last year to ‘between 37.5 and 38.5 percent’ this year.
New products tend to lead to falling margins, caused by high initial investments and reduced yields when pushing the limits of achievement. (9to5Mac mentions the 2012 iMacs as an example.) Falling margins affect earnings per share.
Q2 EPS for 2012 was $12.30; on average analysts are predicting $9.85 for the same quarter this year.
Fortune says, “The bad news is that every analyst we’ve surveyed — even the most bullish — believes that for the first time in a decade Apple (AAPL) will report that its income this quarter was lower than the same quarter the year before.”
Fortune does offer hope, saying these predictions have already been factored into the current price per share, saying that the smart money has been pouring back into the company over the past three weeks, leading them to believe that Wall Street is betting that over the next six to 12 months numbers have nowhere to go but up.
